


interesting people

by leviadrache



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-16
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-06-08 20:40:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6872578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leviadrache/pseuds/leviadrache
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris stays at Mamoru's place and Mamoru appreciates the company.</p>
            </blockquote>





	interesting people

**Author's Note:**

> this is part of my fic trade with my dear friend [taya](https://twitter.com/clanleaderanjou) ! she requested mamoru and chris flirting, so here we are

Chris stays at Mamoru's place during the time they work on Plan G. He insists that he can stay on his own, he's used to living on his own back in Singapore, but Mamoru _insists_ , too. It's not good for a 16 year old to spend so much time on his own, he said. Chris tilted his head then, seemed to think it over in his head before he agreed.

There's a spare room in Mamoru's flat. It's usually occupied by either Tokoha, who often helps out at Dragon Empire all day until it's too late for her to go back home, or Ibuki, who is, well, Ibuki. Mamoru feels like Ibuki lives in his office, so it's his duty as friend to sometimes let him stay over and forget about work.

Chris gives him an amused smile when he sees the room. It's neatly decorated with flowers and colourful curtains Tokoha brought over, but the floor is also full with weird and obscure technical non-sense from Ibuki.

"You're a weird person, Anjou Mamoru," Chris hums with a smile, as he drops his bags onto the floor next to one small machine that immediately starts to buzz. It doesn't seem to bother Chris, who just walks past it to look at the flowers.

"I like it here."

* * *

 

Chris is a surprisingly polite person. Although he spends most of the day at the lab to work, somehow he always manages to be home for dinner. Despite frequent visits from friends, Mamoru got used to eating on his own in the small kitchen of his flat, so eating with Chris everyday is a nice change. He appreciates the company.

Chris is easy to talk to. Sure, he's very intelligent, but Mamoru doesn't have many problems to keep up with him when they talk. It's probably because Chris adapts to his pace, which is another thing Mamoru appreciates about him.

There are quite a few days when Chris doesn't stay to talk and leaves right after the meal to keep working in his room, but he always helps Mamoru to clean up before he does. On even rarer days, he only leaves a note for Mamoru in the morning to warn him that he'll work longer today, so there's no need to wait in the evening – and Mamoru appreciates the thought.

It gets hard to ignore Chris presence in his flat after a while: he buys quite a few vegetarian cookbooks and there are always some the animal hoodies in his laundry.

* * *

 

"You need to tell us when the work is getting too much for you to handle," Mamoru reminds him one evening. "I don't want to put too much pressure on you."

Chris looks up from his plate. "It's not a big deal," he shrugs and stuffs too many noodles at once into his mouth. Despite being about ten times as smart as Mamoru, he still tends to fall back into behaving like a child sometimes, when he thinks he isn't being watched – and after living together for more than a month, being around Mamoru falls into this category by now.

"I'm sorry we had to drag you into all of this. You're too young for this."

"That's nothing new for me though," Chris shrugs. "Kinda comes with the whole child protegy thing."

"But I still don't think us adults should depend on you." – _It's pathetic of us_ , he wants to say, but keeps it to himself. After Tokoha and the others got into Myoujin's HQ and Chrono and Ibuki had to watch him die, Mamoru keeps finding himself thinking about that. How pathetic he is for letting children do the work he should be doing. "You might get hurt and it'll be our fault."

Chris frowns. "You don't know what I went through. I chose to come here on my own, because - like it or not - there are things adults can't do without us."

There's a certain glint in his eyes. It's not like anything Mamoru has seen before and it throws him off. Ibuki did mention that Chris has a direct connection to Cray, but Mamoru never paid it any thought until now. "So you really are one of the chosen ones to protect Cray?"

"Yes, I am, so there's no need to worry about me."

Mamoru thinks those few words over for the rest of the evening. It appears that Chris doesn't have to work this evening, because he stays with Mamoru even after they finished cleaning the dishes. He sits in the living room, playing games on his phone, while Mamoru does the paper work he couldn't finish at work.

It's always easy to lose himself in the work. He goes through all the review letters they received for their last event and notes down the critique and suggestions they got. It keeps his mind occupied and lets him forget about his other worries. Though he does feel sort of bad, because seeing all the people who enjoyed this event, he is constantly reminded of the true aim of the organisation.

He tries his hardest to stop Myoujin Ryuzu, tries his hardest to give people a chance to enjoy this game again, but it's _frustrating_. Frustrating to know that everything he worked for in his life is nothing but a mad man's plan.

"Don't you think you work too much?"

Mamoru jumps. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Chris laughs. He seems to find something about this really amusing, because he leans in closer to Mamoru, puts his chin on Mamoru's shoulder and hums. "Why shouldn't I? Your reaction was quite cute actually."

A small huff escapes Mamoru's lips. Chris laughs again. "See? Very cute."

He hopes Chris is just joking and takes a deep breath in. "Chris, do you realize what you just said?"

"Yes, I do," Chris says softly. "I honestly think you're an interesting person, Mamoru." He almost sings the name and Mamoru can feel heat flush into his cheeks.

"I think you're much more interesting," he says, trying to get Chris focus on something, anything that's not _him_.

Chris doesn't appear to listen much to him, but steps away, only to sit down on the chair next to him. Their eyes lock and Mamoru reminds himself that this boy is barely two years older than Tokoha. A fact that is hard to remember when you think about all the things Chris has done in his life. He is far more successful than Mamoru, so it's weird to think of him as a teenager.

"Your love for Vanguard is very endearing," Chris says matter-of-factly. His tone is more serious now and Mamoru tilts his head.

"So is yours."

Chris shakes his head. "I've done stupid things. That's why I work so hard. To protect Vanguard for the people who love it just because it's fun."

There seems to be a longer story to Chris words, but he trails off and Mamoru doesn't ask more about it. Instead he does something very blunt. He runs his hand through Chris hair and gives him one of his best smiles.

"Stop acting so gloomy. It doesn't suit you."

* * *

 

The next morning, Chris already left for work when Mamoru wakes up, but he finds a note pinned to the fridge.

 _Don't leave work on your own! I'm picking you up_ ♥

Mamoru follows his request. The day at work appears to be longer than usual, since not much happens and once he finally finishes, he has to wait another thirty minutes until Chris arrives.

"I want to take you out for dinner," he explains as he leads the way to the centre of the city.

"There's no need for you to do that. I don't mind eating at our flat."

Something about his wording makes Chris look quite satisfied. "Still, it's time that I treat you for once. Let me show that I can take care of you quite well, too."

"I already believe that you can," Mamoru returns, looking at Chris, who has his hands in the pocket of his hoodie and starts to hum a melody Mamoru doesn't know. "Chris?"

But the boy simply grins and grabs Mamoru's hand. "Just follow me, okay?"

Mamoru sighs, but gives in to Chris request and lets himself be pulled along. Chris holds his hand firmly, but not too harsh as he pulls Mamoru behind him. It leaves Mamoru feeling a little silly, to be pulled behind Chris as if he was a little kid, but Chris looks both confident and content, so Mamoru can't complain. He finds himself quite fond of that expression.

He's not sure where he expected Chris to lead him, but it certainly wasn't a kebab place.

"Aren't you a vegetarian?"

"I am," Chris assures him. "But you can also order them without meat. I've grown quite fond of them when travelling around, but there aren't many places to get them here in Japan."

The diner is rather small: just the counter to order and three small tables with two chairs each. The menu is on a plate behind the counter and from what Mamoru can see, all the meals are in fact vegetarian by default, a little more expensive when ordered with meat. Realizing Chris will probably insist on paying, he decides to go for something without meat as well.

Chris orders for them and after they received the food, they sit down on one of the tables. Since both of them are rather tall, their knees keep brushing against each other. Mamoru doesn't notice at first, too occupied with his food – _ahh, they use a really nice sauce here_ – but notices it soon enough. Oddly enough, Chris' knees always seem to find a way to brush against his, even when he tries to avoid touching them very hard. Though he is slightly too old to be bothered by something like that when going out with a friend.

But a look at Chris tells him that the contact probably is not as unintended as it seems. The boy grins widely at him.

"Chris." Mamoru sighs. "Don't I look like an old man to you."

He gets a laugh as response. Chris laughs about him quite a lot these days. "I've spent my whole life with people who are significantly older than me."

Mamoru raises an eyebrow. "That does not make this any better, you know."

"I expected you to be more of a flirt," Chris blurts out then, but he keeps grinning.

"Uhm," Mamoru tries not to stutter, caught off guard. "To be honest, I'm not sure if I want to know what else you expect of me," Mamoru admits, but he can't stop himself from asking. "Do you take people out like this?"

"I thought you don't care much about plain numbers," Chris reminds him. "Oh, don't look at me like this! Let's just say that I like taking care of interesting people."

"You're really bad at flattering people though," Mamoru comments jokingly.

"Am I really?" Chris muses. "If I'm really that bad, why did you start referring to your apartment as 'ours'? Gives off the impression that you're looking for something more too."

"I never said – "

"You did," Chris reminds him firmly. "When I picked you up at Dragon Empire."

"Oh." That's what he gets for dealing with a young genius. Chris never misses any details.

"You know what, Mamoru. I think you're the one of us who needs to take things more easily." Chris easily takes each of Mamoru's into his. "Worrying too much isn't good for old people like you."

Mamoru sighs, but gives into Chris approach. They don't speak much until they're done with the food. Chris goes to pay, then takes Mamoru's hand into his once more.

"You like doing that, don't you?"

"Touching you? It's quite interesting."

Mamoru rolls his eyes, but lets Chris drag him along. Maybe he really needs to take it easy sometimes. The city feels lively to him and he feels like he could walk around here for hours.

Chris takes him to the river. He practically falls into the grass and Mamoru finds himself doing the same. The grass is wet and cold, but the water in front of them looks so clean and fresh. Lights dance on its surface.

"It's pretty here," Mamoru says. Chris nods, then moves to sit right next to Mamoru. "Hey, what are you doing now?"

"Oh hush." Chris' touches Mamoru's shoulder blades carefully, waits for a moment that seems to last longer than it should. The hairs on Mamoru's neck seem to stand up in anticipation and internally curses himself for doing so. He feels a puff of air against his neck when Chris starts running his fingers over his shoulders and back, massaging him.

"You're too tense, Mamoru," Chris hums.

Mamoru leans back against Chris, tilts his head so he can look into his eyes.

"Guess what, I like you too," he admits with the smile, hoping that time will go by a little slower, just for tonight.


End file.
